What Are You Afraid Of?
by LordByronMudkippington
Summary: Ruby agrees to go camping because she likes Kanan.


Ruby hadn't done a lot of camping. In fact, she had done no camping whatsoever. Her and the outdoors didn't go so great together, and it wasn't like being the youngest Kurosawa child meant she had to go anywhere besides school most of the time. Being a part of Aqours, however, meant that she was now spending much more time outside. It wasn't so bad, though. After all, being an idol was a dream for her, so she was fine with being outside and exercising a lot of the time. That didn't mean she wanted to go camping.

Of course, when she was asked to go camping with her sister, Kanan, and Mari, she had timidly responded yes. Asking if she really wanted to go was the wrong question, because the answer was obviously no. The right question to ask was if she was incredibly weak-willed when it came to Kanan. That answer was a resounding yes. Not that she wasn't weak-willed in many other aspects of her life, a negative trait she knew she had but had a lot of trouble overcoming. However, it was Kanan that really made her weak. Weak at the will, weak at the knees, all that good stuff.

Kanan was definitely the epitome of cool. Dia was the most responsible, and Mari was the most energetic, so all three of them were awesome people that she looked up to. She didn't have romantic feelings for her sister though, and Mari was just a bit too wild. It scared her sometimes. Kanan, though... she was cool, calm, and collected. Everything that Ruby herself was not. She looked up to all three of them, but Kanan was the one whose praise made her feel way too warm inside. Not that Dia's praise didn't make her feel warm. Her sister was the best. It was just... Kanan was the one she most wanted to kiss. On the lips. That would hopefully straighten it all out.

Gods, even thinking about locking lips with anyone - especially Kanan - made Ruby red in the face. She had always liked Kanan, because she was friends with Dia and anyone who Dia liked Ruby would like in turn. Then the two of them had a falling out that lasted over a year, and Ruby hadn't liked Kanan all that much anymore. It felt weird to not like her, or to not be around her at all, but she'd never betray her sister like that. If she was hurt, than Ruby was hurt too.

They reconciled, though, and it was around that time that she began to realize that her feelings for Kanan were returning. It wasn't just a close friendship, though: it clearly was something more. She wasn't naive enough to believe that it could be anything else but a desire for closeness, for intimacy, but she was completely inexperienced enough to not know what to do about it.

The last thing she wanted to do was ask Dia for advice. It'd be way too embarrassing to admit that romantic feelings were starting to blossom inside of her. Besides, Dia was a protective big sister. She might end up throwing Kanan off the dock, and that wasn't what Ruby wanted.

Then again, maybe asking Mari was the last thing she wanted to do. She was sure Mari would mean well, but she wasn't even sure what the excitable blonde would do with that information. Would she even keep it a secret instead of immediately teasing Kanan - and Dia - to death with the knowledge? Even if she got advice, she would have to wonder if any advice from her would be feasible. She'd probably die of embarrassment.

Her best choice would likely be Hanamaru, but when it came to romance, she had a feeling her best friend was more of the classical romantic type. Or worse: existentialist. She still remembered last year's Valentine's Day, when she got chocolates and a card that read 'Happy Valentine's Day! Chocolates, like the heart, eventually go bad, so eat them beforehand! - Maru-chan'. Somehow, she felt that Kanan wouldn't want to hear how they should kiss before a tsunami drowned them all.

So as she went with the third years to camp out for the night, her plan was to say nothing and bottle up her feelings like a Kurosawa. Even if her advice may have not been very helpful, she still wished Hanamaru was there. She had invited her, but she had to help with the temple that night. Now, why were they camping in the first place instead of staying inside where there weren't any bugs or complete darkness? Apparently it was one of those third year bonding experiences, which didn't explain why she, a first year, was invited. However, when Kanan asked her if she wanted to go, she didn't ask why. She just said yes. Weak-willed as always.

They set up two tents: one for Dia and Ruby, and one for Kanan and Mari. Most of the night was spent in the latter tent, though. When they would venture outside, it was a disaster, but a funny kind of disaster. They were supposed to have a campfire, but it turned out nobody knew how to start a fire. There weren't any big-enough logs to start one anyhow.

"Aww, but how are we supposed to roast marshmallows?" Mari pulled out a bag, but instead of regular marshmallows, they were the kind that you'd get in a box of children's cereal. Dia blew a gasket at that, which made Kanan roll over in laughter as Ruby tried to keep her sister from stuffing the entire bag in Mari's mouth. She couldn't help but glance over at Kanan, noticing how cute she was when she laughed, even when it was raucous. Then Dia stopped trying to get at Mari, and Ruby still pulling on her back caused both of them to fall over, which made Kanan laugh even harder. Now she wanted to hide in her tent and never come out.

Then there were the ghost stories. Those were supposed to be told around a campfire, but without the fire, they just sat in a circle and looked silly. Ruby didn't like scary stories, but she didn't want to chicken out in front of her seniors. After hearing Mari's story, though, she wished that she had.

"And she ran, and ran, but they kept coming... They chased her down, surrounded her. There was nowhere to run!" Mari leaned in, grinning from ear to ear. "The next day, one of her friends came to check on her, but all she found were the words 'account deactivated!" Ruby squeaked and jumped, while Dia just rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on, Mari. Nobody hounds people to death for having a differing opinion." Ruby was still shaking though, until she felt Kanan's hand rubbing her shoulder soothingly.

"It's okay, Ruby. There's no such thing as Tumblr." That made Ruby feel a bit better. It was just some story Mari made up. She didn't feel much better listening to either Dia or Kanan's ghost stories, though, and she declined to come up with her own. It wasn't her specialty, and she was sure that it would be lame anyway.

Eventually Ruby started to get tired, so she went to her tent to read a little before falling asleep. She wasn't sure how long she ended up falling asleep for before the sound of the tent zipper being moved woke her up. Moving the book off of her chest, she sat up and saw not Dia, but Kanan zipping the tent up. She felt her face start to heat up as she squeaked out, "K-Kanan?"

"Hey Ruby." Kanan smiled sheepishly, waving at her. "I know this is yours and Dia's tent, but she and Mari are, uh..." She bit her lip, her cheeks going a bit red. "They didn't seem like they were going to sleep for awhile, so I hope it's okay if I sleep here for tonight." Was it okay? Absolutely. Well, it wasn't okay for her heart, but otherwise, it was perfectly fine. She just nodded and slid down further into her sleeping bag.

Kanan took Dia's sleeping bag, but she didn't seem all that tired. "So, did you enjoy the ghost stories? I thought they were pretty good."

"Y-Yeah, but they were, you know... scary." Ruby always felt even less cool than she already was when measured against Kanan. "H-Hey Kanan, are you scared of anything?"

"Hmm? Naw." Kanan laughed, waving a hand dismissively. "What's there to be scared of? Besides, you've got Dia to protect you, right? And you've got me too." She flashed Ruby such a brilliant smile that she was sure she would die right on the spot. She wasn't even sure what to say after that, but apparently the wilderness decided to speak for her. A strangled moan, like there was a wild animal nearby, reached their tent, and Ruby was suddenly no longer tired. She sat upright, eyes wide and looking at Kanan.

"Wh-What was that?!"

"Uh..." Kanan frowned slightly, seemingly unsure of what that sound was. When it sounded again, louder this time, Kanan jumped, looking more nervous than Ruby had ever seen her before. "M-Maybe it's just the wind. Ahaha, yeah, the wind. That's it-" The moans were soon replaced by something much worse: screaming. It was loud, and it sounded human, like a tortured soul within the forest. Kanan yelped and burst from the sleeping bag, jumping against Ruby and knocking her over.

"Eep!" Ruby squeaked and fell over, Kanan clutching onto her arm. "K-Kanan?!"

"G-G-Ghosts!" Kanan whimpered, her eyes shut tight as she hugged onto Ruby for dear life. "Th-The yurei are haunting the forest!" Seeing Kanan like this freaked Ruby out even more than the moans and screams were. She'd never seen Kanan scared, and she felt like her arm was losing circulation. Then there was another round of screaming, and this time both Kanan and Ruby hugged each other tightly, screaming out together.

"D-DIA!" They huddled together, whimpering quietly until they heard something stomping outside. "Uh oh..." Kanan whispered, but then they heard a familiar voice outside their tent.

"Ruby? Kanan? What's going on? Are you two okay? Open up!" Kanan instantly untangled herself from Ruby and fell over trying to reach the front of the tent, unzipping it so Dia could get in. She ducked in and looked at the two of them, as if trying to see if either of them were hurt. While she did that, Kanan and Ruby both got a look at Dia. Her hair was a complete mess, and in the light of their lantern it looked as if something had bitten her on the neck and collarbone. "Ruby, are you okay?"

"U-Uh, y-yeah," Ruby muttered meekly, starting to feel ashamed as she couldn't hear any more screaming. "We, uh, heard screaming, and thought..." She didn't want to admit that she had started to believe there had been ghosts too, nor did she want to throw Kanan under the bus like that. "... that someone was in trouble."

"Oh." Dia just stared at them, then her cheeks started to turn red. "Oh, well, uh... It must be your imagination, then. But, I'll go check, just to... be sure." Without another word, she ducked out of the tent, leaving them alone again. They looked at each other, the same thought on their minds.

"You don't think..."

"I... don't doubt it." Kanan groaned and blushed, shaking her head in an attempt to get the images out of her mind. When she had calmed down, she zipped the tent back up and got back in Dia's sleeping bag. "You know, I somehow don't think Dia's going to be coming back here tonight. Do you want to sleep with me? ... In my sleeping bag. I-I mean Dia's sleeping bag. Y-You know, just in case you get scared again, I'll be right here to protect you." She laughed, though it was nervous in nature. It made Ruby smile, giggling at how Kanan seemed much more like a dork now than she had just moments ago.

"S-Sure." She got out of her own sleeping bag and moved in with Kanan, having to snuggle up close so they could both fit. Not that that was a bad thing, but she was already feeling warm from being near Kanan, and this was just making her burn up. It felt like she needed to take off... Wait, no, never mind. She didn't want to finish that thought anymore.

Instead, she switched gears to better thoughts, like how Kanan was a dork. Even if she had said she had no fears, Ruby could tell that she was at least scared of ghosts. She couldn't judge her, of course: she probably had more fears than the rest of Aqours combined. It made Kanan seem a bit more human, though. She was cute when she hugged onto Ruby. It made Ruby feel important, like she was the one protecting Kanan, rather than vice versa.

As she cuddled close to Kanan, she liked that her crush had a silly side as well as a cool side. It made her more unique, more Kanan. Ruby could still fall asleep knowing that Kanan would keep her safe. Except from ghosts, maybe.


End file.
